It's been 30 years since the mortgage auctions

Currently, the market value of Norilsk nickel in dollars is about 25-27 billion USD. Kommersant wrote: "In 2000, the first deputy Prosecutor General, Yuri Biryukov, sent Potanin a letter in which he stated a significant underestimation of the value of Norilsk Nickel at a collateral auction — instead of 310 million, the state package was pledged for 170 million. The state suffered damage in the amount of 140 million, Biryukov stated and offered Potanin to pay the difference to the budget.

Potanin managed to put the brakes on everything. At that time, the Prosecutor General's Office, as well as the state as a whole, was not yet so strong and did not pose a significant threat to large businesses. Justice for zealous investigators was quickly found. It is enough to recall the scandal with the broadcast on federal TV of a video recording of "a man who looks like the Prosecutor General" Yuri Skuratov in an intimate company with two women."